All-Star Panel of Authors, Scholars, and Artists Go Global

It's a small world after all, as the growing buzz surrounding the concept of globalization makes clearer by the day. However, the people of the African diaspora have experienced its beauty and ugliness for centuries, chronicled in Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka's tragic tales of British colonialism, Alain Locke and Frantz Fanon's scrutinies of blackness on a world stage, and the lives of Richard Wright and James Baldwin, expats criticizing a culture that rejected and humiliated them. With few exceptions, males have dominated this early examination of blackness on a global scale.

From October 12 through 16, however, female writers from across the African diaspora will come together to celebrate and dissect their own contributions to the discussion of globalization. Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Maryse Condé head an all-star cast of scholars, authors, and artists.

The event, co-sponsored by NYU's Institute of African American Affairs and Africana Studies Program and the Organization of Women Writers of Africa Inc. (OWWA), will discuss globalization from a female perspective, as well as the impact of dislocation, terrorism, and new technology on literature, publishing, and the creative process. The conference is open to the public, and will be available to participants nationally and internationally via webcast, proving that we truly do have the world at our fingertips.